Precious
by Jonas lives forever
Summary: Some search for love. Some value love. Some HATE love. Or so it seems. Broken promises, the past, shattered dreams, they all come to haunt you. Karma. And, sometimes, love even comes back to haunt you. Words may just be words to you, but it can change people's lives. Literally. Careful what you wish for, what you dream. Careful who you fall in love with. Life is precious... Niley
1. Prologue: Forever and Always

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

Forever and always- Prologue:

* * *

I held onto the 13 year old's hand, intertwining our fingers slowly. I looked over at her and whispered something. We exchanged glances and burst out laughing. We walked down the woodland path. So peaceful. I sighed happily looking at her. Some hair fell in her face. I smiled. Meeting her was an amazing experience. From the very beginning of the summer, when I first saw her at this music camp, I knew I would never forget her. She was perfect. We very quickly became friends, best friends. Like we'd known each other for years. Every moment I spent with her, I never wanted to end. I wanted it to last forever. Maybe those words implanted in my head by my mother were lies, I'm not too young to know true love... Sadly, camp ended today and we'd both be off. I'd be heading to New Jersey while she'll be going to Nashville. I have to tell her today. I have to tell her my feelings, because I, Nick Lucas am in love with Miley Stewart.

* * *

I stopped walking. Miley stopped too and looked at me with, cute, confused eyes. She always looked so adorably innocent.

"What's wrong?" I sighed happily. Now or never.

"How did I get so lucky?" I asked, smiling.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking even more confused. I grabbed both of her hands.

"To meet an angel as perfect as you. Someone who can always make you smile, no matter how sad you feel. Someone who, after knowing for one day, makes you feel like you've known them for a lifetime. Someone who cares about you." I placed a hand on her cheek.

"Who has love in her heart for everyone and everything on this planet. Who couldn't hurt a fly, couldn't break a heart. Someone who is so beautiful, when you look into their eyes." I looked deep into her eyes.

"You you get lost on an ocean of beauty, wonder and most of all, love."

* * *

She smiled as a tear slid down her cheek. I wiped it with my thumb.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. Did I say something wrong? She smiled some more and shook her head.

"That was beautiful, you're beautiful. Everything about you is. Every single soft brown curl on your head." She said touching my curls, giggling slightly.

"Every single word you say." She stated, touching my lips lightly.

"Every time you look at me, I fall into a deep trance. Your eyes locked on mine, nothing else matters. The pain of life, the disappointments, all gone." She smiled at me.

"But the most amazing, beautiful thing about you is what is in here." She said, touching my chest, right over my heart. I smiled and leant close to her, she leant in too, closing her eyes. I softly pressed our lips together. In that moment, everything was alright. I didn't think about how I'd miss her, I didn't think about how we'd probably never see each other again. In that moment, all I could think about is how much I love her.

I felt a tear splash against my cheek and roll down my face. I thought for a moment. Was I crying? But no, that tear wasn't shed by me. I pulled away and looked Miley in the eyes.

"What's wrong?" She closed her eyes again as lots of tears were shed. I leant forwards, placing my hand on the shoulders and kissed them all away. She finally opened her eyes.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? Why?" She asked as some more tears poured down her cheeks. I rubbed them all away.

"What am I doing?" She grabbed onto my hand, preventing me from wiping more tears. She looked me in the eyes.

"Making it a thousand times harder to say goodbye." She burst into tears. I pulled her into a hug.

"Shhh Miles, please don't cry, it breaks my heart." And that was the truth. But she just cried harder. I felt the tears run down my back. But I didn't mind, not one bit.

"I love you Nick."

"I love you too Miley."

* * *

I sat on the bench as the love of my life rested her light head on my lap. She way lying on the bench. I started stroking her hair.

"Promise you'll never forget me, Miles." She looked up into my eyes.

"Hmm... I don't know, are you worth remembering? You're not THAT great!" She joked, I smiled down at her.

"Please?" I pouted. She sighed.

"Oh, I don't know..." I smirked.

"Maybe you'll know after this." I leant down close to her face. She leant closer, our lips almost touching. I raised my hands and started tickling her.

"Nick! Stop!" She said screamed, bursting into laughter.

"What was that? You want me to tickle you more?" Her eyes widened.

"NO!" I smirked and pecked her lips. I then started tickling her like crazy. She fell on the floor from laughing so hard.

"OKAY! I'll remember you!" I continued tickling.

"Promise?"

"PROMISE!" I instantly stopped and helped her up.

"Good." I kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around my neck, deepening the kiss. I snaked my arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She pulled away a bit.

"I love you so much" She stated, biting her lip cutely.

"I love you so much more." I grinned.

"Your lips taste like vanilla, you know." I said, smiling.

"I had a vanilla donut earlier." I dramatically pouted.

"Without me?" She smirked.

"Sorry baby, I think I can make it up to you." She pulled me into another kiss.

* * *

I saw the mass of children, crying, hugging, kissing. And here I was, holding Miley's hand for the last time... Some tears ran down her cheeks. I looked at her and placed a hand on her cheek.

"Promise you'll never stop loving me Miles?" She smiled and grabbed my hand.

"I will love you until the end of all time, but I'm just going to miss you too much." I sighed and hugged her.

"I'm going to miss you too Miley, and it's going to hurt every day. But I can promise you one thing." I pulled away from the hug. She sniffed.

"What?" I grabbed both of her hands.

"That I'll always love you and we will me again. We'll probably be teenagers, maybe even adults, but our love will last forever, if you're willing for it to." I looked into her eyes. She smiled.

"Forever and always. I will never forget you and never change, I can promise you that." I smiled.

"I'm always going to love you, forever and always"

"Promise you'll call me, like every day." I nodded.

"Of course, and I won't ever stop, unless you wanted me too of course." She shook her head, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Well that day will never come."

* * *

I heard a series of car horns go off behind me. I turned around and saw Miley's dad waiting for her, in his car. Parked next to it was my mom's car. My mom and Miley's dad stepped out. Miley burst into tears. I pulled her into another hug as tears ran down my cheeks.

"Please..." My voice cracked. Miley pulled away and I kissed her. I kissed her with so much love and passion, like it was the last time I'd ever see her. No, it won't be Nick. She deepened it as she cried through the kiss. I felt my tears fall through the kiss too as I wrapped my arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck. I started pulling away when she grabbed my hand.

"Please don't ever stop." She whispered. I kissed her again and after a while, we both knew we had to pull away. I looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek.

"I love you Miles, forever and always." She smiled.

"The day my love dies, will be the day I die." I leant close to her ear.

"If you ever died, I'd die myself from the pain." She cried a bit.

"Then our love will never die."

"Never." I whispered. I kissed her forehead softly and then grabbed her hand. We walked to our cars and hugged our family. After a few minutes exchanging words between my mom, I got into the car. I slammed the door and looked out the window. I could see straight through to where Miley was sitting in her car. She smiled sadly.

"Forever and always." She mouthed.

"Forever and always." I mouthed back, then she was gone...


	2. Chapter 1: The black keys

_8 years later_

* * *

**-Nick-**

"The black keys, have never looked so beautiful and the perfect rainbow never seemed so dull…" I made extra sure to keep my singing quiet, under my breath. My fingers scraped the metal bars. Locked up like an animal... I banged my fist against one of the bars. The pain hit me instantly but I simply ignored it. I let out a shaky breath and glanced up at the security guard. He looked at me with a confused expression.

"What?" I snapped, my eyes narrowing. He simply stared at me for a moment, eyebrows furrowed and then turned away. I rolled my eyes and took a step back from the bars.

"By the way," I saw him turn around to face me again. "The zipper on your pants are undone." I saw his eyes widen slightly as his head shot down to check. I smirked, sitting on the hard bed. I shifted my weight uncomfortably, trying to find a more comfortable position. Why were all of these beds so… hard and rough? Seriously. I groaned in frustration and stood back up just as he looked up from his pants and towards me, glaring, obviously not amused.

"Made you look." I stated, smiling sweetly. He inhaled sharply and then turned so he wasn't facing me again.

"Can't take a joke big guy? That's fine with me. I may be in here a while though, we may as well get along. Let me see…hmm," I thought for a moment and then stood up, walking close to the bars. He turned around slowly towards me, suspiciously in fact.

"Don't need to get all suspicious on me. Honestly. What do you think I'm gonna do? Kill you?" I know I shouldn't joke of these things, plenty of guys in here would be willing to do it. But I wouldn't. Surprisingly, I actually have morals. Anyway, I wanted to see his reaction. He tried to remain professional, unfazed, although I saw a glimmer of something in his eyes. Fear.

"Let me guess, first day on the job?" He remained silent for a moment.

"Yes." He eventually replied. I nodded.

"Thought I hadn't seen you before, word of advice, don't show fear. We, 'criminals'," I stated, using air quotes around the word criminals.

"Can apparently sniff out fear in a second, and use it against you to, like, kill you." I saw him gulp, causing me to chuckle.

"Getting scared are we? Dude, I'm not going to kill you. I'm not a murderer. Most people just can't get that through their _fucking_ thick skulls." I let out an annoyed, rough breath, running a hand through my hair.

"Anyway, what's your name?" He remained silent for a moment, fiddling with his keys, nervously. Odd, never seen a security guard do that before.

"Gale Seattle." I bit my lip, holding in a laugh. Gail? Did he just say Gail? And Seattle? Like the state? Man, is his name funny.

"Gail? As in G-A-I-L? Or, more commonly known as a _girl _name. And Seattle, as in the state? What's your middle name? Washington? Texas?" He rolled his eyes.

"Gale, G-A-L-E. A _guy _name. As in for _men_. You know men that are actually free and not stupid enough to get locked in a jail cell. And, no my _middle_ name is Seattle. Do you _really _think I'd be such an idiot to actually tell you my last name? Are you actually stupid?" He practically spat, a smirk forming on his lips. I smirked, nodding my head, gaining some respect for him. Even though people don't need to gain my respect because I am a kind, ball of sunshine. _Obviously_.

I leant close to the metal bars and smiled at him.

"You're going to be… fine here. As long as you remember one thing. Keep your eyes on the keys." He frowned for a moment and then suddenly understood what I meant. He quickly checked to see if his keys were still there. My eyes lingered on the same spot as him for a moment. The black keys... The one thing that can free me of all this pain, well, most of it at least. I quickly looked back up at his face again. Yet again, he looked back up at me not amused, annoyed by my sense of humour, in fact. Well, at least, it seemed that way. I smiled.

"Made you look. Again. You're just too easy to fool." I swear I saw him actually smile, shake his head and turn away from me.

"You're actually kind of funny kiddo, don't lose that." I rolled my eyes. Kiddo, _sure_.

* * *

Suddenly, I heard some heavy footsteps. Loud thuds against the cold floor. Getting closer. And closer. I saw some outlines of men. They arrived outside of my cell. Security guards. _More_ security guards. I frowned for a moment. One of them stepped forward and pulled out some keys, identical to the black keys dangling from Gale's belt. I'm sorry, Gale… ahh, still sounds funny. Gale Seattle. Classic. My expression turned thoughtful as he pushed the key into the lock and turned. Click. I stood up as they walked in.

"You're free to go sir." One stated as I smiled.

"About time you said that," I let them grab me and then we started walking. I glanced back at Gale, gave him a smile before turning back to the direction of which we were walking.

"Who bailed me out?" I didn't hear a response so I sighed. "Oh well, doesn't matter. Take me to my leader."

* * *

I didn't really know what to expect. A 50 year old bald, fat man with oily skin and a long beard. A woman in her 40's who looked like she was from one of those 60's films. The president. No, I was completely wrong. I saw a young woman, I'd say, around 18. She had long black hair tied in a high ponytail, brown eyes, very little makeup and a beautiful smile. If anybody asks, I did not just say that... I looked her over, taking in account every little detail. Red earrings. Grey joggers. A red tank top. A heart shaped locket. Trainers. She looked like she just came from a jog, basically. She even looked slightly sweaty. Well, I don't blame her, joggers in summer? And it's boiling in here! I just kept my gaze on her for a moment. Something about her looked familiar…. I shook my head of those thoughts and looked back up at her face. She seemed to have her gaze anywhere_ but_ me. Odd… I saw her start playing with the bottom of her tank top and tap her feet quietly on the hard floor. She looked a bit uncomfortable, like she didn't even want to be here. She eventually looked towards me as I was officially released. We both walked outside in silence. Awkward silence. When we were outside, I squinted in the bright sun. Living in a cell with no window really affects a guy! She quickly pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her pocket and handed them to me. I put them on and then turned to her.

"I'm Selena," She winced slightly when saying her name, like it literally hurt her.

"Selena Russo."

"Um... Nick Lucas? .." I wasn't really sure how to reply any other way. She smiled.

"You think I'd bail you out if I didn't know that?" I frowned slightly. Was I meant to answer that?

".. No? .." She nodded and starting walking again. I followed, like a lost puppy. If anybody asks, I didn't say that either! She stopped beside her car and looked to me. I looked at her. We looked at each other.

"Don't just stand there," She exclaimed, sounding annoyed yet still wearing a bright smile.

"You want to get in this car or not?" I raised an eyebrow. A complete stranger randomly bails me out of prison, after me being in there for over a year, gives me some sunglasses and then asks if I want to get in the car with her and drive to god knows where?...

"Um... Sure?" She rolled her eyes.

"Look at the car Nick, long and hard." I nodded slightly, frowning as I followed her instructions. I looked at the car. A car... A _car. _What more can I say, it's- A car! Wait, not just a car-

"This is my car!" I felt kind of shocked, considering I knew this car was crushed. By a crane. Two years ago. While I was in it! Thank god to 'eject seat' buttons, that's all I can say! I shuddered at the memory.

* * *

After a moment of shock, I heard a click and the lights flashed.

"Took foreeeeever to fix." Selena stated, holding out the first 'e' for a long time. She walked to the boot and opened it. She took off her trainers, placed them inside and pulled out some heels. My eyes widened as I saw her start to take her joggers off. Thank god she was wearing some denim shorts underneath! She threw the joggers inside, placed the heels on her feet, pulled her hair out of her ponytail, shaking it in the process, smiling. She pulled out a lip gloss, added a layer on her lips and then took out some bracelets. She placed them on her wrist, flicked her hair and clicked her heels together. Slamming the boot, Selena turned to me. Wow, she did that pretty fast! After a moment Selena threw me the keys.

"Consider the car being fixed a present." She smiled sweetly and walked to the front. I hesitated for a second then opened the driver's seat door. I slid inside and smiled slightly. Smelt like normal. Beer with a hint of mint. She got inside too and we slammed the doors in harmony. I glanced at her.

"Happy birthday, by the way. Hope you like the smell, I know it normally smells like this so I made sure that the guy fixing it put in this… scent." She stated, grinning. I pushed the key into the slot, chuckling before turning it. It didn't even occur to me that knowing a complete stranger's birthday wasn't normal. And knowing what their car normally smells like isn't normal either. I mean, until it was too late…


	3. Chapter 2: Silk dress

**-Selena-**

_I felt my face flush as he simply laughed. _

"_It's not funny…" I muttered, blushing furiously and looking out of the window. I watched as the houses started flying past. Liam sighed, grinning. He placed his hand on top of mine, remaining one hand still on the wheel. I smiled faintly. _

"_It's sweet." I smiled as he turned to face me, sent me a wink and then turned back to face the almost empty road. Ok, he had laughed, like everyone does, but he just said it was sweet. In which itself is… sweet _ _. After a moment, Liam turned the car into his driveway and came to a stop. He pulled the key out and turned to me._

"_Ready to go in? Maybe tonight I'll finally get to see you naked!" He joked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and intertwined our fingers._

"_You wish!" I grinned for it to fall slightly._

"_Seriously, you know I'm not ready…. Right?" He smiled softly, kissing the side of my head._

"_Course babe, I was only joking." I bit my lip, nodding. He meant that. I knew he did…_

* * *

_As soon as we entered my house, it instantly started heating up. Liam pushed me up against the wall and started kissing me deeply. I kissed back passionately. He pulled away and smirked._

"_Maybe we should take this upstairs? Wouldn't want any of your family seeing us!" I looked unsure, tensing slightly before he ran his fingers through my hair. I instantly relaxed._

"_Don't worry, we won't go too far." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and pecking his lips. He smiled and lifted me up bridal style, running up the stairs. I giggled. He kicked open the door, closed it using his foot then lay me on the bed, before kissing me. I fell back against the soft pillows and mattress, kissing back, running my hands through his hair. After a few minutes, both of us had shredded our t-shirts. I barely had even realised though, I was practically in heaven. Liam ran his hands over my stomach and moved from his previous position of sucking on my neck to kissing my lips passionately. I smiled into the kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck once again. His hands slipped on top of my breasts. I instantly felt uncomfortable. He knew I didn't like this, or want this. I tried to pull away. His grip tightened painfully around me as his hand pushed my head forcefully towards his, so I couldn't pull away. I struggled and eventually got out of his grip. I wiped my mouth, shooting him a glare. _

"_What are you doing?! That hurt!" I spat angrily. He sighed, rolling his eyes_

_slightly._

"_Whatever babe." He pushed me back onto the bed and started kissing my neck, pulling down one of my bra straps. I did the only thing I could think of. I kicked him. In the balls. He shot up and glared at me._

"_You're going to pay for that, bitch!" I gulped, sitting up slowly. He smirked and pulled something out of his pocket. My eyes widened. He rested the gun near my head. I gulped again. He leant in close to my ear._

"_Now princess, we can either do it my way or we can do it the hard way. Which will it be?" _

"… _Yours ..." I whispered, quietly, almost inaudible. He... he wouldn't do this. He-we're- we love each other. Right? Maybe he's drunk. Wait, I would've tasted it. Um... high? Why would he act like this if he was high? I'd been with him this whole night, he hadn't taken anything. Maybe it was the food? God! Food doesn't make people act like this! Face it Selena, he HASN'T changed. You can't deny it now… He was lying… And prison didn't help him… The door suddenly burst open and I turned to see my bubbly little sister, Lilly, burst into the bedroom. Her grin suddenly disappeared and she gasped. I don't think I've ever seen my sister look so scared in her life. _

"_Selena?! W-what's happening?" Liam turned around quickly and pointed the gun at Lilly. I screamed out loud._

"_NO!" He smirked and pulled the trigger..._

* * *

"NO!" I screamed, shooting up quickly. I screamed again looking around the unfamiliar place. I turned to see Nick sitting next to me, looking very concerned.

"Are you ok, Selena?" I felt some tears run down my cheeks. I made no effort to wipe them away as I nodded, turning towards the window. The city seemed to rush by so fast….

"Selena-"

"Please, let it go.." My voice sounded pleading and was met by a reluctant, 'giving up' sort of sigh.

"Was I asleep?" I stated after a moment of silence. He chuckled.

"Been zonked out for 2 straight hours. Didn't have the heart to wake you..." I nodded slightly.

"Um... thanks..." I heard him sigh again.

"Selena... I think there's something I need to know… and I'm not going to say what because you know EXACTLEY what I am talking about…" I closed my eyes. This was it, the moment I had been dreading. I'm surprised he hadn't asked this earlier. I mean, basically, a complete stranger did just bail him out of prison. But, that's where he's wrong. I'm not a complete stranger...

"I-I" I started stumbling over my words, not even knowing where to begin. I felt his hand rest on top of mine. I frowned and turned to him. He had his eyes locked on the road. I looked down at our hands, a smile playing on my lips. I had to admit, it felt nice to feel his warm skin against mine. It gave me some form of comfort I just can't explain... So like Liam…

"Y-You aren't going to like my response. Do you mind if I tell you later?.. I promise I will tell you everything." He hesitated for a moment before smiling.

"As long as you promise, sure. So, where are we going?" I grinned.

"Shopping!"

* * *

**-Miley-**

My fingers trailed over the silk material. It felt just like it looked, simply beautiful. Just like everything in life, what you see is what you get. You see a stunning dress and that's what you get. Simple as that. Ok, I would definitely be a hypocrite if I said I actually believed that. Well... I guess I just want to be able to believe that. For it to be true. Well, I learnt a long time ago that the more you dream about things to change, the only thing that's going to happen is you get desperate. And when you're desperate, you're vulnerable. Naive. Easy to take advantage of. And TRUST me, people won't have any problem with taking advantage of you...

* * *

My head suddenly shot up as I heard someone clear their throat. I was face to face with an angry looking girl. She had long, dyed blond hair, tied into a plait to the side, with a little of her hair covering her twilight eyes. She was wearing torn jeans, red heels and a light pink tank top. She forced a tight smile.

"Madam, do you want anything?" I could tell she was annoyed. Very annoyed. I nodded my head slowly, glancing back at the dress before turning to the corner of the room.

"Do you have one of these in a blue?" I walked over there, picked up a black cardigan and walked back to her, smiling. She sighed before putting on another fake smile.

"Let me go check. Won't be a moment" She stated through gritted teeth, before turning around and walking to the desk. I saw her body was tense. Wow, she must be very angry... I decided to wander around the shop. She obviously looked like she was going to take her time so I may as well browse. My gaze went back to the pink silk dress. I sighed. Enchanting. Beautiful. Pretty. Words basically created for things like that dress. Things that were designed to be… perfect. Loved by many. I swear, a few years ago, I would've died to look, and just be 'perfect'. Beautiful, enchanting and most of all, pretty. Then I grew up.

* * *

The girl walked back a few minutes later, holding up an identical cardigan to the one before, with the exception that this one was a light turquoise.

"This ok?" I nodded quickly, beaming. Perfect! We both walked over to the till and while she scanned the cardigan and placed it in a bag, I pulled out my purse.

"$75." I nodded, taking out the money and handing it to her. She sighed and handed the bag to me.

"Have a nice day." I heard her mutter. I beamed and started walking to the door just as I heard a squeal. I turned around to see a girl grinning, holding up the pink silk dress I had been looking at before.

"Nick! Ahh, it's PERFECT! NICK! Get over here, lazy bones!" She exclaimed exited. I turned my gaze to the door as I saw a man grinning, shaking his head. Nick, I assume.

"Girls and their dresses…" He started walking over to her, slowly.

"You know, when you said shopping, I thought you meant for me!" I heard Nick exclaim. The girl rolled her eyes.

"You look fine in my brother's clothes!" He sighed and then gazed at me. For a second, ours eyes met. I felt something spark inside me. I knew that face… Yet, before I even realised, I was outside in the summer air. I sighed and started walking slowly down the street.


	4. Author's note-- Pretty important I guess

**A/N: Hey guys. I'm really sorry I haven't updated, I know it's been a month. But I do have a reason. It's not the best reason, but a reason. My sister got onto my laptop and deleted the documents I had saved with the next few chapters for Precious and Rose Garden :( . So, it's going to take some time to remember and rewrite them. I'm also on holiday right now so I have no time to rewrite them. I promise I will do them VERY soon though, hopefully by early January. Merry (belated) Christmas guys, and a Happy New year. I hope you're all having fun. Thanks so much for the reviews :P Oh, and I promise the story will get a LOT more interesting :). I'll give you a hint, DRAMA! :D**

**-Rebecca**


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